Saturday, 30 May 2009

I am conscious that a lot of time has passed since my last blog entry, which is certainly not because I have been idle in the allotment. The allotment goes from strength to strength, and it is a busy time of down there. That, coupled with being distracted by some other projects, has meant I have fallen behind with the blogging, and rather than write a massive block, I figure the best bet is to update the 'story so far' in a few instalments.

After building the rhubarb bed, I inherited six raspberry canes off my aunt and uncle's allotment. They had been clearing out an overgrown patch, and rather that throw them on the compost they gave them to me, wrapped in soggy newspaper. I must say I was rather uninspired to receive half a dozen wet twigs, each ending in a gnarled ball of roots, but, in the Bob Flowerdew inspired philosophy of reclaimed timber and salvage, I thought what the hell, and built another bed for them besides the rhubarb.So far, the results have not been spectacular, but each of the six canes had sprouted a few green leaves, and one or two even have flower buds on them, so at least they haven't died.

That brings me on to my new "Allotment Classifications System" that I have devised for monitoring the success of my growth. Basically it consists of three levels of status for the plants: Thrive; Alive and Died. So far, I would say that the majority of my plants fit into the middle category, Alive, because they are just plodding along. The sweet potatoes that I was so proud of on the windowsill propagator never really made it out of the cold-frame, and are defiantly in the latter category. They are now in a 'better place' (ie, my compost bin), while the onions I grew from seed, and my wife planted, are defiantly in the first category, Thrive, as they are looking splendid, and are attracting envious looks from my fellow allotmenteers.